Away from pool for 1 week

[newbiepo0lowner]

Hi,

We're heading out of town for a week and I plan to bring our pool up to SLAM before we leave. I've skimmed the forums and I think I have a game plan in place. It's going to be hot and will be in the 90s rest of the week here.
- I'm currently filling up my pool with water since it evaporated some. Will doing this lower my CYA? My CYA current is at 50.
- I plan to bring it up to SLAM level this evening before we leave tomorrow AM. I also plan to leave some tabs in a floatie for the time away and have it somewhat centered in the deep end in case I can't have anyone come by drop any liquid chlorine in.
- We will skim/empty all baskets. We plan to leave the pool pump running at low setting. It seems like the recommendation maybe to turn it off? Does keeping the pump running while we are away help the algae at anyway? I read the flow of water needs to move in order for tabs to dissolve.
- Worst case scenario all the chlorine is gone by the time we come back and run into an algae situation, we will need to SLAM to get rid of it right?

Can I test FC/CC alone only using my TF-100 kit? I tested this morning and FC was at 1 and CC at 0. For CC, is there an ideal? Or am I right to interpret it as having no chlorine. Either way, it was low so I dumped in some liquid chlorine in while water is also being added. I plan to dump more chlorine in later this evening.

Thank you!

 

[PoolGate]

Your pool uses 2-3 parts chlorine per day in the high sun. So for a week starting at SLAM you should be fine especially if you put a couple pucks in. And yes, adding water dilutes the pool and CYA with it but probably not enough to notice unless your water level was really low.

1 is too low. Target 10% of your CYA, or "5" with your CYA of 50.

 

[newbiepo0lowner]

Hi,
So I’m back from being away from a week. My husband said it looks like the pump was off while we were away. I’m not completely sure what happened as I was almost certain it was on/fine before we left. Anyway, the pool look like a bit greenish and not sure if it’s algae or if it’s bc maybe water hasn’t been circulating. We’re new owners so trying to fully understand our pump.

just did a water test and results are attached. I definitely need to add some liquid chlorine to bring it up. But it looks like CYA is higher now too. What can I do to get all levels in check?

ps. How do I know there is true algae in the water?

Thank you!

 

[mknauss]

ps. How do I know there is true algae in the water?

First is if your FC dropped below minimum for your CYA, you meet that criteria.
Next is to run a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Raise your FC to 10 ppm and do that tonight.
Finally, is there visible algae or is the pool water cloudy?

 

[newbiepo0lowner]

First is if your FC dropped below minimum for your CYA, you meet that criteria.
Next is to run a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Raise your FC to 10 ppm and do that tonight.
Finally, is there visible algae or is the pool water cloudy?

That make sense. My FC definitely dropped below 50-60 CYA at this point. I added enough chlorine in the pool for now and will plan to do OCLT. The pool water isn’t cloudy but greenish .. still somewhat clearish water.

to get rid of algae, do I just SLAM until water is clear?

 

[mknauss]

to get rid of algae, do I just SLAM until water is clear?

Yes. Pass the three criteria.

 

[newbiepo0lowner]

I completed OCLT this morning and my FC and CC remains the same. I think it’s safe to say there isn’t anything such as algae in the water consuming the chlorine. Is this correct?

I think I understand that it is just a matter of maintaining my chlorine level daily based on my CYA and not let it drop below the minimum, otherwise it could lead to algae if left for too long.

at this point, are the other areas a concern? I see my TA is outside the ideal range. Is that something that need to be addressed?

finally, we don’t plan to go into the pool until maybe close to end of next week. Rather than adding chlorine in, can I just add a bunch of chlorine in, say at or above SLAM and let it come down a few days?

 

[PoolGate]

Your numbers all look good. You can add a bunch of chlorine at once and let it drift down, but you'll use more chlorine that way. With it at 10, you are probably good for 2 days check then and pop it back to 10.